Happy Birthday ElvisBlog:  It has now been three full years since ElvisBlog was launched.  Happily, readership keeps increasing, and I haven’t run out of new ideas to write about.  There’s a lot of cool stuff out there in Elvisworld, so you can expect the commentaries to continue for a long time.

A Record Number of Hits in 2007:  It’s a bit late to report this, but ElvisBlog received almost 88,000 hits in 2007, more than double the number from the year before.  Not surprisingly, the best month was August when almost 12,000 Elvis fans checked in to read about the King.  January is always the second-best month, and the count just closed at over 10,500 for January 2008.  Thank you so much for your continued support.

New Header Banner:  If you are reading this, you have seen the new ElvisBlog banner at the top of the home page.  I hate to admit it, but it took about ten hours to read the manual, create the banner, and use the blogware File Manager system to upload it to this blog.  Lots of mistakes and trial-and-error before getting it right.  Fortunately, I’m more proficient as a writer than I am as a computer person.

Another Vacation:  Retirement is a great time to go on vacations, and my wife has been relentless in planning them.  We leave February 14 for three weeks in Italy, and we will see Rome, Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast.  As always, I will be on the lookout for Elvis stuff to report about on ElvisBlog.  There will probably be a two-week gap during which no new columns will be posted.  However, if I can get a few articles ahead, I may talk a friend into adding them on the second and third Sundays while I'm gone.  To be advised...

A Correction (Sort of):  On September 2, 2007, I posted a blog article titled, "Vancouver celebrates the 50th Anniversary of An Elvis Riot."  I have now heard from two readers who say it was not a riot.  One is Alan Hanson author of the book "Elvis '57: The Final Fifties Tours," which contains a 10,000-word chapter on the concert.  The other was from an anonymous reader who said she was there, which gives her some credibility.    OK, let’s say we’ll agree it was not a riot, just a display of boisterous enthusiasm that caused the concert to be ended after twenty-two minutes.  Very boisterous.

Numbers for The Year Almost In:  With two weeks to go, it’s easy to calculate that the number of hits on Elvisblog this year will easily double the number for 2006.  Cumulative hits since Elvisblog started in February 2005, is now at 153,000.  The big thing that caused the jump was all the folks who discovered the site for the first time during Elvis Week 2007.  It looks like a lot of them came back as regulars.  Thanks to everyone for your support. 

No New Posts over Christmas:  As in previous years, I will take a break and not add any new Elvisblog articles on Sunday, December 16 and Sunday, December 23.  However, there will still be new content – pretty special content, too -- the third installment of “The ELVIS CLAUS TRILOGY.”   Episode 3 is titled, “Elvis Claus Upstages an Elvis Impersonator,” and it continues the love story of pretty Judy Parker and the mysterious man behind a Santa beard.  There will be more on this episode and the whole trilogy in the annual Christmas message from Elvisblog next Sunday, December 16.  “Elvis Claus Upstages An Elvis Impersonator” will be posted on that date, as well.

More Numbers Stuff:  My blog platform provides me with links back to the Google/Yahoo/etc. searches that led people to Elvisblog.  On one Yahoo search for “Elvis Presley,” Elvisblog was link #374.  That means that somebody had to go through 37 pages of other sites before getting to the screen that held #371 through #380.  That’s some determined searching.  I wasn’t too pleased to be #374, until I noticed how many total links Yahoo found – 66 million.  Is Elvis on a lot of websites, or what?

Ike Turner and Elvis:  Ike Turner died this wee at age 76.  There is a small connection between him and Elvis.  According to several internet sources, in the early 50s, Turner was the house boogie-woogie piano man in a West Memphis "blacks only" club.  Young Elvis often snuck in and hid next to the piano to study Turner's boogie style and woogie-wild legs.  The news reports of Ike Turner's passing mentioned that many historians credit him with making the first rock & roll record, "Rocket 88."  Did you know it was recorded at Sun Records three years before Elvis ever showed up?  Click here to read an article I wrote about Ike Turner's historic recording session with Sam Phillips at Sun.

We’re Back:  Vacation was great, but now it’s time to get back to the business of writing Elvisblog articles.  Nothing was posted the past two Sundays, so I moved the schedule up to Friday, 10/05.  I hope you will enjoy, “Searching for Elvis in Reno, Salt Lake, and Jackson Hole.”  We’ll get back to the regular Sunday cycle on October 14.

Wrong Assumption:  I was pleasantly surprised to see that 3400 readers checked in during the past two weeks when there was no new content.  It seems there are more Elvisblog readers than I guessed, but many don’t access the blog each week for the new article.  I’m the same way with some websites – I check in every once in a while and catch up on what’s new.  Fair enough, but I’ll still be adding new articles to Elvisblog every Sunday.

Vacation Time Again:  There will be no new articles posted to this blog on the next two Sundays, September 23 and 30.  Sorry for the two-week break, but your Elvisblog host will be on vacation out west.  We are going to four national parks: Yosemite, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain – with stops in Reno, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, and Estes Park (Colorado).  This country has outstanding natural grandeur, and we are going to check out some of the best of it.  Of course, I will be on the lookout for anything interesting about Elvis to provide the basis for a future blog article. I imagine my best hope will be in Reno, but you never know.

Bragging Again:  A month ago I mentioned how interest in the 30^th Anniversary Elvis Week caused a big spike in reader visits to Elvisblog in mid-August.  Well, it appears that many of these new readers liked it enough to come back again.  During the past three weeks, Elvisblog has averaged well over 2100 hits per week, a 20% jump over just two months ago.  Total reader visits year-to-date are now over 58,000, but I recently saw figures on the hits the Elvis website powerhouses get, so there is still a lot of room for growth.  Thank you for reading Elvisblog.

New Links:  The list of favorite links on Elvisblog has grown considerably in recent weeks, and it will get bigger after vacation.  Past blog articles have contained hyperlinks to quite a few Elvis websites and other sites that have some interesting Elvis content.  These will be compiled and added to the favorites list.  By the way, if you hold the cursor over the link name, a box will open with a short description of what the site is all about.  It’s a pretty cool feature.

OK, it’s time to go to the airport.  Talk to you in October.

Phil Arnold, host of Elvisblog

Big Spike in Hits on the Big Day:

There is always a jump in interest in Elvisblog during mid-August, especially on the 16th.  However, there was no reason to expect the number of visitors to the website would spike like it did this year.  On Thursday, August 16, Elvisblog received 1256 hits, almost tripling the old record of 425.  The next day, a new second place mark of 862 was set.  The weekly total came in almost 2-1/2 times the old record.

But Someone Helped:

I check out a lot of websites for ideas for Elvis articles, and one I frequently link to Is the Oldies Music section of About.com (http://oldies.about.com).   I have printed several articles written by the host, Robert Fontenot, and put them in my files for future blog ideas.  In my opinion, this is a website worthy of spending some time on.  However, I have never contacted Robert, or vice-versa.

He regularly searches the web for good oldies stories written by others.  The ones he likes get a short editorial tease and a link from his site.  He obviously found Elvisblog and liked one of my stories from last year.

On August 14, he posted a great feature:  “30 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Elvis.”  Number 3 was my July 24, 2005, Elvisblog article titled, “Elvira and Elvis.”   Robert’s tease was pretty cool.  It ended with:  “Was this another chorus girl conquest, or was everyone’s favorite Eighties TV horror host a little too innocent for the King?  Read more”

It was that read more link that caused a significant portion of the big spike at Elvisblog.  Lots of folks must be interested in Elvira and Elvis – 523 checked in the first day alone.  For all of Elvis Week 2007, this link caused approximately 1000 people to discover Elvisblog for the first time.  I hope these new visitors were impressedand will come back again. 

Thanks, Robert, and keep reading Elvisblog.  There are lots of good stories you can recommend.

Fans Show Increased Interest in Elvis’ Grandson:

People also come to Elvisblog as a result of Google and other searches.  During the past week, there was certainly a lot of interest in Benjamin Keough, Elvis’ grandson.  Almost 1200 people checked out Elvisblog to get more information on young Benjamin.  However, he’s not so young anymore.  On October 21, Benjamin Keough will turn 15.  I’m sure we will be hearing more about him in the years ahead. 

Scotty Moore/Rolling Stones Picture Added to May 2006 Article:  Over a year ago, I posted an article titled “Scotty Moore Meets The Rolling Stones Backstage.”  This was before I learned how to post photos with the blogs.  The article was weakened by the lack of a photo, and that has now been corrected.  Please click on the article and see the great picture of Scotty, Keith, Ronnie, and a cardboard stand-up of Elvis.   Many thanks to Ella Shepherd, wife of very talented keyboard player Steve Shepherd, for giving me permission to use her photo on Elvisblog.

Weekly Visits to Elvisblog Hit New Record:  Sorry to brag again, but something has caused the number of hits on Elvisblog to jump.  Last week the count jumped up to 1880, an 11% jump over the old record.  A new daily high of 333 hits happened on Thursday, June 21.  The previous record was also on a Thursday, so maybe there is a pattern here.  Anyway, thanks for visiting Elvisblog.

100,000 Hits:  The past week has been a great one for Elvisblog.  The number of visits by Elvis fans to the website since it began has now passed 100,000, and I am gratified by your interest in my writing.  New folks keep discovering Elvisblog every week through the magic of Google.  Because the archived weekly articles have covered so many topics, just about anything googled about Elvis will bring up Elvisblog on the results list.  Of course, many people who discover the site this way come back regularly for another booster shot of Elvis news and commentary.

The other milestone this past week was hitting a new daily record.  On Thursday, May 24, Elvisblog had 316 visits.  Thanks to all you readers for your support.

Comments:  I have no love for chat rooms.  Alhough some people like them, most are a big waste of time.  They veer off of the topic at hand, and often get into personal slams between the respondents.  So, from the start, Elvisblog has not been set up so readers could post comments and other readers could reply.

However, I would like to see what Elvisblog regulars think about the site.  Is there anything you would like to see changed?  Are there topics you would like to see covered?  Did I make a big glaring error in an article?  So, if you would like to make a personal comment (that will not be posted on the site), here is your opportunity.  Send your thoughts to philarnold@charter.net and put Elvisblog Comments in the subject line.  That way I can recognize your e-mails in the spam filter folder and retrieve them.  I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Getting Posted on the Elvis Insiders Website:  Now that I have just knocked chat rooms, I am going to brag about being posted in one.  Someone thought enough of last week’s article “Scotty Moore – The Last Man Standing” to post it on the Elvis Insiders website under the Elvis Week 2007 topic.  This is the third Elvisblog article that has been added to that site, and each one has brought in new readers.  Keep it up.

Getting Posted on Scotty Moore’s Website: For several years, I have wanted to get something I wrote posted on Scotty Moore’s website.  Finally, webmaster Jim Roy took my “Scotty Moore – The Last Man Standing” article, added three photos, and posted it in the “Scrapbook” section.  Check it out at www.scottymoore.net.   Nice job, Jim.

©  2007   All Rights reserves   Philip R Arnold   www.elvisblog.net

How’s That For A Prediction?:  Last Sunday Elvisblog discussed various projects involving digital editing of old Elvis footage through green screen and rotoscoping techniques.  The last paragraph predicted there would be more to come, and, boy, was that ever right.  Just five nights later, American Idol featured a duet by Elvis and Celine Dion on the song “If I Can Dream.”  The Elvis footage used was rotoscoped from the ’68 Comeback Special.  

I can think of a few singers I’d rather see paired up with Elvis, but you have to give credit to Celine Dion for doing a great job.  The visual was outstanding, and now it has quickly become the most popular video download on i-Tunes.  If you missed the show and want to see the video, click on http://www.elvis.com/news/full_story.asp?id=1235

The public’s interest in Elvis’ appearance on American Idol has resulted in a big jump in visits to Elvisblog.  With past articles titled “Elvis and American Idol” and “Elvis gets Rotoscoped,” Elvisblog has been popping up on lots of Google searches the past few days.

(C)  2007   Philip R Arnold   All Rights Reserved  www.elvisblog.net

Total Hits For the Year Sets New Record:

The final count for reader visits to Elvisblog in 2006 are in, and the results make all the time and expense that goes into creating it worthwhile.  The first and still the only real blog devoted to Elvis Presley had 42,654 hits last year.  This was a 38% increase over 2005.  These numbers would have been higher, but a lot of ground was lost early last year when my blogware supplier sold out and I had to switch to a new web address.  The old service transferred visitors to the new site for only a month, and after that anyone going to the old web address was left completely lost.

It was no surprise that the best month was August with 5251 hits.  Most visitors now reach the site by typing in www.elvisblog.net or clicking on it as a favorite.  However, for those discovering the site for the first time, the most popular subject they Googled was Benjamin Keough, Elvis’ grandson.  There’s a lot of interest in that young man.  To my surprise, Elvis collector and friend Jimmy Velvet is a frequent Google search subject that brings people to Elvisblog.

Elvisblog Now Has Photos:

As you can see in the article below, a photo has been added to an Elvisblog article for the first time.  I should have done this a long time ago, because the technology wasn’t that hard to master.  I may go back and add pictures to old articles.  For example, one that really deserves a photo is the story about Scotty Moore and the Rolling Stones backstage.

New Elvisblog Categories Coming:

You can read the most recent 15 Elvisblog articles by scrolling down the main page.  All the earlier articles are accessible through monthly categories.  I have decide a better way to do this would be to organize the archived articles into different subjects.  This would include Elvis and Other Singers, Albums/CDs, Elvis Week, Concerts, Lists, Movies/DVDs, News, and others.  This is going to take some time to complete.  The technology is simple, but it requires a lot of additional typing.  The goal is to have this completed by the two-year anniversary of Elvisblog on February 1.

A Week Without A Blog:  Your Elvisblog host has lost both his mother and his dog over the past seven weeks.  I need to get away for a while to let the hurt dissipate and to recharge the batteries, so there will be a week without a new post for the first time in the history of Elvisblog.  There is a new article posted today, but there won’t be another until Monday, November 20.  And that one will be posted late in the day after my wife and I return from our trip.

New Web Link:  I am proud to announce that Elvisblog has been added as a link on Scotty Moore’s website, www.scottymoore.net.  Scotty’s site is so filled with interesting stuff that it takes a long time to work your way down through the list of topics and reach Links, but some of his visitors have already clicked on “Elvis Blog” and discovered this site.  Thank you Scotty.

Looking Ahead To 2007:  Next year, this writer will retire from his paying job and have much more time to devote to Elvisblog.  My blogware software allows many more options than are currently being utilized, and three could be activated in 2007.  Pictures and photos should become part of many new articles.  The process for readers to post comments will be simplified, and a sign-in box to get regular e-mail notification of new posts may be instituted.

A VERY SPECIAL LADY:  Doris Arnold, the wonderful mother of your Elvisblog host, died this past week at age 88.  Her long slow decline due to pancreatic cancer has required an extensive and very draining vigil for my wife and I.  There hasn’t been time or inclination to research and write a new weekly article.  However, there is new content, so please read on.

NEW ARCHIVES from ELVIS…THE MAGAZINE:  Now that the 29^th Anniversary issue of Elvis…The Magazine (new name) is out, two longer articles from it are posted on Elvisblog.  The six-page long “Al Wertheimer” story led off the issue, and it contained nine of Werteimer’s famous photos.  The article, without pictures, is on this blog.  To see it with pictures, go to www.elvisthemagazine.com, register, and pay $3.95 to view or print the whole magazine.

The other article is “The Sun Sessions.”  A condensed version titled “Elvis’ Best Album” was posted here on March 5, but there’s extra stuff in the long article.  “The Sun Sessions” gave us classic Elvis rockabilly from a historically significant period.  However, the album itself also has an interesting and unusual story of its own.  Check it out.

FIVE CONCERTS AT ELVIS WEEK 2007

Darwin Lamm has announced his schedule of Elvis Week concerts for next year -- and he will be going out in style.  Since 1988, Lamm has entertained close to fifty thousand Elvis fans in Memphis with his series of Good Rockin’ Tonight concerts.  In all likelihood, 2007 will be the last blast from Darwin.  It could also be close to the end of the performing careers for some of the musicians.  So, this will be the year to go to Elvis Week and take in great concerts.  Here’s what Darwin has lined up. 

On August 14, the TCB Band does two “Good Rockin’ Tonight” shows.  Fronting them will be Terry Mike Jeffrey.  I’ve seen Terry Mike perform with the TCB boys twice, and he does a great job on Elvis songs.  The previous Elvis Week concerts with TCB Band and Terry Mike Jeffrey have been great successes.

On August 15, Scotty Moore will be honored at “The Last Man Standing” double-concert.  See last week’s blog article on this exciting event.

Finally, on August 16, there will be two “Spirit of The King” shows featuring a dozen or more of the best Elvis Tribute Artists.  This will be similar to the terrific show Darwin presented in 2005, and it was the entertainment bargain of the week.  These are not guys who perform at retirement homes or shopping center openings.  These tribute artists all make a nice living touring North America with their individual shows, and now they all will be assembled on one stage.  These are going to be fun concerts.

©  2006   Philip R Arnold   All Rights Reserved   www.elvisblog.net

It is 6AM and I am sitting at the computer totally bummed.  For two weeks I have been looking forward to watching Elvis movies all day today to celebrate the 29th anniversary of his passing.  I even posted an article on 8/2/06 extolling praise on Turner Classic Movies for bringing us fourteen consecutive Elvis movies,  and I urged Elvisblog readers to watch as many as you could, too.

Well, I apologize.  In doing research two weeks ago to plan my Elvis movie watching, it appears I linked up to Turner Classic Movies in England, not the USA.  There was nothing on the home page to tell you this.  Only when I checked the old print-out of the Elvis movie schedule did I notice the URL was tcm.co/uk.  Boy, do I feel dumb.

The folks in England are getting a better deal than us today.  I checked old favorite TVNow on the web, and there are no Elvis movies on any channel available to us today.  That really stinks.  The best things offered are two documentaries on Biography cable channel.  At 8AM and again at midnight, they offer "Elvis and June:  A Love Story".  This 60-minute show is built around home movies June Jaunico took in 1956, and it is very good.  The other choice is "Elvis' Entourage" at 10PM.  I have never seen this.

I'm already depressed, and if I wanted to feel worse I could watch "The Last Days of Elvis" at 9AM on E!  No way.  Again, I am sorry for getting people's expectations up with bogus information.  Hopefully, not too many folks got up at 5AM ready to watch Harum Scarum.

Elvisblog has reached a milestone that seemed impossible when I posted the first article a year-and-a-half ago.  My blog software keeps count of how many visits are made to the website, and, as of Friday July 21, Elvisblog passed the milestone of 50,000 hits. 

The weekly count now consistently totals over 1000.  Because new content is added only once during the week, there doesn’t seem to be any good reason for readers to check in more frequently than once a week.  So, by that reasoning, I like to think Elvisblog has 1000 regular readers.  There is a lot of content now, so perhaps people just discovering Elvisblog do visit the site several times a week to catch up, but I’m sticking with the 1000 regular readers.  That’s really something.  Thank you.

A sizeable portion of Elvisblog content comes from reprints of my articles in Elvis International, The Magazine.  After the 29^th Anniversary issue comes out in two weeks, I will be able to add two more long articles: “The Sun Sessions,” about Elvis’ best album, and “Al Wertheimer,” about the magical seven days the famous photographer spent with Elvis in 1956.

In a year or so, this fine magazine will transition from print media to electronic, and change its name to Elvis The Magazine.  You will be able to read the whole thing on-line and print it all or just selected stories.  There will also be a great deal of audio content for subscribers to enjoy.  The Webmaster says this is the wave of the future for websites, so this will be exciting.  More news on Elvis The Magazine will be posted in the months ahead.

©  2006   Philip R Arnold   www.elvisblog.net

The first blog devoted to Elvis has reached a new milestone.  Last Sunday, the 100^th article was posted on Elvisblog.  There has been a total of 76 weekly stories posted to the site, one each Sunday since February 1, 2005.  The Elvisblog Archives contain 22 longer articles reprinted from Elvis International, The Magazine.  And, there are two fiction short stories about Elvis.  Writers are always concerned about ‘word count,’ so someday I will add up all the words used in this body of work.  It ought to be pretty close to the numbers my writer buddies have in those novels they are working on.

Speaking of word count, the story I wrote about photographer Al Wertheimer came to 2,200 words.  It will be in the 29^th Anniversary issue of Elvis International, The Magazine that comes off the presses in about a month.  Look for this story of Wertheimer’s photo-taking odyssey with Elvis in 1956 to show up in the Elvisblog Archives shortly after that.  The thousands of pictures he took of Elvis are his claim to fame, but the seven days he spent with Elvis are a remarkable story.

The first line in this news section contains the words blog and Elvis.  I am making a determined effort to use them in every article, hopefully to improve my Google search rankings.  If someone types elvisblog in the search box, the results are loaded with different links to this Elvisblog.  However, if you type in Elvis blog, the results are full of such junk that you would think no true blog about Elvis exists.  Google merely lists the popularity of sites with the words “Elvis” and “blog” in their text, so I’m going to get them in my articles one way or another (four times in this article, so far).

Somehow, many more people have discovered Elvisblog the past month.  When the web address changed and the automatic forwarding to the new URL stopped in February, there was a distinct drop in visitors to the site.  March was the low point, but each month since has seen nice increases.   Thanks for checking out Elvisblog regularly.  It is the Elvis blog (did it again) written by a fan for the enjoyment of other fans.  Glad you like it.

This is not a primarily a news site, but it looks like the Elvisblog article on February 12 did indeed contain a “scoop.”  It reported the inside skinny that Robert Sillerman, new owner of 85 % of EPE, had purchased two blocks of property on the Las Vegas strip between The Harley Davidson Restaurant/Store and the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino.  This nugget of news came from the driver of courtesy bus for Elvis-A-Rama, which had also been purchased Mr. Sillerman (who plans to close it on August 15, 2006).

According to the bus driver, this land would ultimately be the home of a spectacular Elvis-themed attraction.  Now, all of this has been confirmed in a March 3 article in the New York Times.  According to reporter Julie Bosman, Sillerman’s company CKX Inc. “will open an interactive exhibit and Elvis-themed cabaret show on one of the two pieces of property on the Las Vegas strip.” 

Mr. Sillerman declined to say whether a hotel and casino would be added.  Let’s get serious.  What else would you think the second piece of property is for? 

©  2006   Philip R Arnold   www.elvisblog.net 

Elvis Christmas Fiction

Next Sunday, December 18, Elvisblog will feature a special Christmas treat.  In lieu of a regular blog, I will be posting a wonderful short story titled, “ELVIS CLAUS, Santa’s Favorite Brother Gets A Present.”  You are really going to enjoy this.  It will be located in the Elvis Fiction – by Phil Arnold folder in the left column.  Of course, there will be a prompt in the main body of the page as part of Elvisblog’s Christmas greeting to its visitors.

www.elvisblog.net

Just another reminder, the internet address for Elvisblog has changed.  Although you can still access the site using the old address, sooner or later the blog server will stop that service.  Please change your bookmark to www.elvisblog.net.

www.elvisblog.net 

Things are moving much faster than I reported in the news a week ago.  The URL address for Elvisblog has already been changed to www.elvisblog.net.  If you have the old address bookmarked as a favorite, it will still work for a while, but why not change it now to www.elvisblog.net.

Odd Websites

On November 28, someone typed odd websites into Google Search.  Google reported they found 3,170,000 odd websites, and the listed the first ten.  Elvisblog came in #8.  I printed out the page and showed it to my wife.  She asked, “Is That Good?”  I mumbled, “Well, yeah, I guess, sort-of.”  Then I went back and checked Google.  They weren’t passing judgment on what was odd.  They were reporting the magnitude of hits on sites containing the words, “odd websites.  On November 7, Elvisblog posted, “New Archive Articles, Some Odd Websites, and A Tease. 

New Magazine Article

The new issue of Elvis International, The Magazine is off the presses, and it contains another article by your blog host, Phil Arnold.  It has been added to Elvisblog as well.  Just click on the Archives folder in the left column.  The first listing will be “January, 1956,” and it takes a detailed look at what this writer considers the most significant month in the life of Elvis Presley.

25,000 Hits

After a slow start in February, 2005, Elvisblog has seen steady growth in the number of visitors to the site.  On November 10, the 25,000^th visitor checked in to read the latest nuggets of news, history, and commentary about Elvis.  Thanks for your continued support of Elvisblog.